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PSCI 3258: Democratic Theory and Practice

Fall 2016 TR, 1:10 p.m.-2:35 p.m.

Gillette House 103

Professor Emily Nacol Department of Political Science

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 12 p.m.-1:00 p.m.; Thursdays, 2:45-3:45 p.m.; and by appointment Commons 351

emily.c.nacol@vanderbilt.edu This course focuses on a deceptively simple question: What is democracy? Is it a type of political regime with very particular institutions? A set of practices or behaviors? A political principle or value? This semester, we will look at a relatively “new” case study for democratic theory—the American political experiment. Once again, we are at a critical juncture in a long and important conversation about race and democracy in America, one that we’ve been having to a greater or lesser degree continuously since the founding. Many political theorists have participated in this conversation through popular and academic writing. This semester we will read some recent contributions to this debate, in some cases pairing new work with older pieces from the tradition of democratic theory. Our course readings will serve two purposes. First, they should establish the idea that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to think about American political life without thinking about our history of racial oppression and how it shapes our democratic politics. Second, they should help us move closer to an answer to some of the questions that begin this course description. How democratic is America? How well do we practice some of the values that are often linked to democracy—equality, freedom, and justice? How do our institutions support or betray these values? What practices and behaviors are most important to our shared democratic life, especially if we include commitments to anti-racism and racial justice as important dimensions of our collective projects? This class has three major goals:

(1) To familiarize you with classic and contemporary readings in democratic theory and practice. (2) To complicate our ordinary understanding of democracy as “self-rule.” We will think

especially carefully about who is included in this idea of the “self” or the “people,” and who still struggles for inclusion. We will also scrutinize what kinds of activities “rule” entails and how these have been or are encouraged or suppressed.

(3) To encourage you to explore the role that democratic citizenship plays in your adult life and to draw your own conclusions about what a democratic politics should look like and accomplish. My hope is that our readings and conversations will give each of us new and useful tools for our practices of democratic citizenship.

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Requirements and Grading Book List: The following books are available for purchase in the bookstore or can be borrowed from the library, where they are on reserve:

• Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness (The New Press, 2012)

• Danielle Allen, Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in an Age of Equality (Liveright Publishing, 2015)

• Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (New York: Random House, 2015) • Joel Olson, The Abolition of White Democracy (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,

2004) • Tommie Shelby, We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity (Cambridge:

Harvard UP, 2007) • Jack Turner, Awakening to Race: Individualism and Social Consciousness in America (Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 2012)

If you have any trouble acquiring a reading, ask me—I might have an extra copy for you! We will also have supplemental readings beyond these books. I have posted them on our class Blackboard site and marked them on the syllabus with *. Course Requirements and Grade Distribution: This course is a seminar, so our class meetings will be discussion-based, with very little lecture. You will have five assignments for the semester:

• In-class work: o Attend all meetings o Bring your texts to class o Bring one critical question or comment to class o Participate in all discussions

• Two short critical response papers • Take-home midterm examination • Final paper (abstract to be submitted in advance)

The grading breakdown is as follows:

• In-class work: 20% • Short response papers: 10% each, for 20% total • Take-home midterm: 20% • Abstract for final paper: 5% • Final paper: 35%

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To pass this course, you must pass each of the components of the course. For example, someone who completes all written work but does not attend class regularly will receive a failing grade for in-class work and will subsequently fail the course. Likewise, someone who is an excellent contributor to class discussions but fails to complete a written assignment will fail the course. My goal is for you to do well on every component! Grading policy Your class participation and essays will be given a letter grade that corresponds to a value on the 4.0 scale set by the College of Arts and Sciences. If you have any questions, I encourage you to ask me at any time. Late work policy Regarding late work, I will deduct 1/3 of a letter grade for the first 24 hours that your essay is late. After that, I will deduct one full letter grade per 24-hour cycle. I will not accept an essay more than 4 days (96 hours) after it is due. Plagiarism and Citation Practices Plagiarism or cheating on an exam is unacceptable. I report all suspected cases to the Undergraduate Honor Council. Plagiarism can sometimes be tricky. So, if you are unsure about citations or have any questions pertaining to what counts as plagiarism, please ask! For more on the Honor System, see http://www.vanderbilt.edu/student_handbook/chapter2.html. More information about how to cite sources properly is posted on our course Blackboard site. Technology Policy Unless you have a documented reason for using a laptop in class, I ask that you power down all your electronic equipment in class. This includes laptops, tablets, and smart phones. Emergencies and Course Accommodations Your success in this course is very important to me. While I will enforce my syllabus policies strictly and fairly, I know that emergencies and illnesses sometimes arise during the semester. If you are sick or experiencing personal circumstances that are affecting your work, please let me know immediately so that we can make arrangements together for you to complete your work within a reasonable period of time. In emergency cases, I will excuse late work or a series of absences if you can provide a doctor’s note or a note from your dean or advisor. If you need course accommodations due to a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated during class time, please let me know so that we can work together to meet your needs and make the class more hospitable. I also encourage you to make an appointment with the Opportunity Development Center (2-4705) as soon as possible, as they have many good resources.

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Schedule of Readings and Assignments: Please bring your texts and notes to every class, since we will frequently work from them. Please read in advance of class. I’ve tried to keep the reading evenly distributed, but some assignments are heftier than others, so plan accordingly! Thursday, 08/25/2016 Introduction to the course

Beginnings: Allen and Turner on the American Tradition of Democratic Theory

Tuesday, 8/30/2016 Allen, Our Declaration, Chronology, Prologue, Parts I-II, pp. 15-84.

Thursday, 09/01/2016 Allen, Our Declaration, Parts III-V, pp. 85-142.

Tuesday, 09/06/2016 Allen, Our Declaration, Part VI, pp. 144-188.

*Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” (1852) Blackboard: Course Content

Thursday, 09/08/2016 Turner, Awakening to Race, ch. 1-2, pp. 1-46.

*Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans G. Bevan (New York: Penguin, 2003), II.i-iv, pp. 583-595.

* Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” in The Portable Emerson, eds. C. Bode and M. Cowley (New York: Penguin, 1981), pp. 138-164. *Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Emancipation in the British West Indies,” in The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Brooks Atkinson (New York: Modern Library, 2000), pp. 753-778.

Tuesday, 09/13/2016 Turner, Awakening to Race, ch. 3, pp. 47-64.

*Frederick Douglass, “Self Made Men” (1872).

*Frederick Douglass, “What the Black Man Wants” (1865).

Visit from Celia Gregory with Project HeadCount for voter registration!

Thursday, 09/15/2016 Turner, Awakening to Race, ch. 4, pp. 65-88.

*Ralph Ellison, “What America Would Be Like Without Blacks,” Time (April 1970).

Tuesday, 9/20/2016 Turner, Awakening to Race, ch. 5-6, pp. 89-124.

*James Baldwin, “The Discovery of What it Means to be American” (from Nobody Knows My Name), Collected Essays, ed. Toni Morrison (New York: Library of America, 1998), pp. 137-142.

*James Baldwin, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew” (from The Fire Next Time), Collected Essays, ed. Toni Morrison (New York: Library of America, 1998), pp. 291-295.

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Reflections on Identity and Solidarity: Olson and Shelby on Politics in Black and White Thursday, 09/22/2016 Olson, The Abolition of White Democracy, Introduction and ch. 1, pp. xi-

30.

*W.E.B. Du Bois, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” in The Souls of Black Folk (New York: Penguin, 1989), pp. 3-12.

*Podcast: NPR Code Switch, “Can We Talk about Whiteness?” (2016)

Tuesday, 09/27/2016 Olson, The Abolition of White Democracy, ch. 2-3, pp. 31-94.

*Tocqueville, Democracy in America, I.x, pp. 370-376, 398-426.

Thursday, 09/29/2016 Olson, The Abolition of White Democracy, ch. 4-5, pp. 95-145.

* Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations,” The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 313, No. 5 (June 2014), pp. 54-71.

*The Movement for Black Lives, “Platform and Demands” (2016)

Tuesday, 10/04/2016 Shelby, We Who Are Dark, Introduction and ch. 1, pp. 1-59.

Thursday, 10/06/2016 Shelby, We Who Are Dark, ch. 2, pp. 60-100.

Tuesday, 10/11/2016 Screening: The Black Power Mixtape, 1967-1975, dir. Goran Olsson (2011)

Thursday, 10/13/2016 Fall break. No class.

Tuesday, 10/18/2016 Shelby, We Who Are Dark, ch. 3-4, pp. 101-160.

(Note: Today we’ll also finish the last 20 minutes of the film before we have discussion.)

Thursday, 10/20/2016 Out of town. No class.

Tuesday, 10/25/2016 Shelby, We Who Are Dark, ch. 5, p. 161-200.

Thursday, 10/27/2016 Shelby, We Who Are Dark, ch. 6 and Conclusion, pp. 201-256.

Tuesday, 11/01/2016 *Tommie Shelby, “Justice, Deviance, and the Dark Ghetto,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 35, No. 2 (2007), pp. 126-160.

*Shatema Threadcraft, “Intimate Injustice, Political Obligation, and the Dark Ghetto,” Signs, Vol. 39, No. 3 (2014), pp. 735-760.

The New Jim Crow: Democracy and the Carceral State Thursday, 11/03/2016 Alexander, The New Jim Crow, Introduction and ch. 1, pp. 1-58.

Tuesday, 11/08/2016 Alexander, The New Jim Crow, ch. 2-3, pp. 59-139.

Election Day: If you can vote, go exercise your right!

Thursday, 11/10/2016 Alexander, The New Jim Crow, ch. 4-5, pp. 140-220.

Tuesday, 11/15/2016 Alexander, The New Jim Crow, ch. 6, pp. 221-261.

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“The Brutality of a Country:” New Reflections on American Democratic Life Thursday, 11/17/2016 *Neil Roberts, “Introduction: Trayvon Martin”

*Anne Norton, “Fearful Privilege”

* Michael Hanchard, “You Shall Have the Body: On Trayvon Martin’s Slaughter”

All from “Symposium: Trayvon Martin,” ed. Neil Roberts, Theory and Event, Vol. 15, No. 3 (2012).

Tuesday, 11/22/2016 Thanksgiving break. No class.

Thursday, 11/24/2016 Thanksgiving break. No class.

Tuesday, 11/29/2016 *Mark Reinhardt, “Stuff White People Know (Or, What We Talk About When We Talk About Trayvon)”

*Christopher J. LeBron, “The Agony of a Racial Democracy”

Both from “Symposium: Trayvon Martin,” ed. Neil Roberts, Theory and Event, Vol. 15, No. 3 (2012).

Thursday, 12/01/2016 Coates, Between the World and Me.

Tuesday, 12/06/2016 *“The Brutality of a Country: Responses to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me,” Web resource on theatlantic.com.

*“Philosophers on Coates’ Between the World and Me, Web resource on dailynous.com.

Thursday, 12/08/2016 Open office hours to talk about final paper

Schedule and Explanation of Written Assignments: Short Response Papers: You will choose the due dates for these! You must complete two papers over the course of the semester. To get started, look over the reading list. What interests you most? You will choose two class meetings and do a 1-2-page, single-spaced reflection paper on the readings for those meetings. Your response is due by email as a PDF to me by 9 pm the night before class. (Example: If you are interested in writing on Coates’ Between the World and Me, your response paper will be due on Wednesday, 11/30, by 9 pm.) These papers have no strict guidelines except one: Please do not summarize the readings. You can assume that your reader has read the texts and has a basic understanding of them. Instead, you should use this assignment as an opportunity to raise an interesting question, puzzle, or criticism about the reading. You can also use your paper to highlight something you think is especially helpful or great about the reading. I may use your paper to guide our class discussion the next day, too. The simplest way to get started might be to think about what you would most like to talk about with our group, and write about it.

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Midterm Exam: The midterm will be a take-home, open book exam. I will email you the mid-term question on Monday, 10/17, at noon. You will have a week to compose your answer, so it will be due back to me on Monday, 10/24, at noon. You may draw from your notes and the readings to answer the question, with no outside sources expected or required. Your response should be between 2500-3000 words (8-10 double-spaced pages), and it should take the form of an argument with a thesis statement, supported by evidence. Seminar Paper: Your seminar paper will be of your own design. It will be between 4500-6000 words (15-20 single-spaced pages). You may write on any question or problem you wish, using any of the readings that interest you. You may also bring in any outside source materials you would like, although this is not required. You must write a one-page abstract for your seminar paper, in which you articulate the question that interests you and suggest how you will answer it. This abstract is due no later than our class meeting on, although you may certainly hand it in earlier. The completed seminar paper is due by 5 pm on Monday, 12/15. Important Due Dates: Response paper 1: Response paper 2: Midterm exam: Monday, 10/24/15, at noon, by email. Seminar paper abstract: Thursday, 12/01/15, in class. (earlier is also fine!) Seminar paper: Thursday, 12/15/15, 5 p.m., by email.